'Theatre should challenge, and I think we did that'

Alannah Lawless-Looby enjoyed her first experience as a director with the Little Brother Productions offering, ‘The Wolves’ in Mullingar Arts Centre over the August bank holiday weekend.

She and the cast members were delighted to have support from family and friends, including those who made the effort to travel long distances to Mullingar. “But I think what really mattered to us as the team, the cast and the production team, was the feedback from people none of us knew,” Alannah said.

“We got comments on Instagram, on DMs congratulating us, from people we didn’t know at all, who just came to see the show, who were praising the accents, praising the girls, praising the direction, which was really nice.

“That is really reassuring because, of course, family and friends telling you you’re great is always lovely, but it’s a little bit more meaningful when you know you’ve impacted someone that doesn’t know you personally. If they come out (of the theatre) having felt something more than usual, it’s a lot more meaningful, because they don’t have any attachment to any of us.”

She thinks part of the appeal was that the production is different to the style of theatre the arts centre does a lot of the time. “It’s a very modern play, contemporary – the dialogue, the way it’s structured, the movement, the fact that it’s a one-act – all of it was quite different to the plays I’ve done previously in the arts centre.

“I think it’s quite fun, and I think people enjoyed it more because of its difference, which I was really grateful for, because that could have easily been a part of its downfall. I had so many people come and tell me they enjoyed it. A teacher from my old school, who didn’t even teach me, came over to me to congratulate me, which was particularly nice.”

She said people were asking her and the cast members questions – a sign of a good play “if people come out of the theatre wanting to know more, and wanting to know why, and thinking about it and analysing it through their own lens”.

“I think theatre is supposed to challenge people, and I like that we didn’t have to over-explain anything, and it was still enjoyed by just as many people.”

In a preview of the performances, Alannah had told the Westmeath Examiner about the different perspective a director has, something she didn’t have to think about in her many appearances as a performer.

So, how did it go? “When it came to the actual show night, it was different, it wasn’t as worrying, because theatre is so fluid and because you’re performing every night, nothing is ever a definitive final product.

“It comes to a point where you could rehearse it forever and at no point in time would you go, ‘yes, we have to do it this exact way every single night, deliver all of those lines the exact same way’. You just have to let go and let it be what it will be, regardless of the outcome.

“You have to have a certain level of trust there that it will turn out well, and I think the girls (the cast) did a really good job of that.”

She says they all reached a point where they knew they could have fun with the play, and that each night would be different, a different audience, different energy.

“That didn’t throw them, and for me, I was backstage for it, so I wasn’t in the audience watching the girls, which helped separate the worry for me. I also ended up in the show at the very end playing one of the girl’s mother, which we hadn’t revealed to anyone.

“So it helped that I had that little part of me that knew what I was doing, ‘this is familiar’. Then I could leave the directing behind, because we were at a point where we needed to let go of the rehearsal and the process. It was time to just let it be seen and let it be what it was.”